Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TRAVEL NEWS

Airport on Spanish island of La Palma reopens as volcano destroys more buildings

The airport on La Palma has reopened - even as more buildings were destroyed by lava flows on Saturday morning.

Published: 9 October 2021 16:22 CEST
Lava flows from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma continue to cause devastation. 
The Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma first erupted on September 19 and has been causing damage ever since. The island's airport has now reopened following a closure due to ash deposits. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP)

La Palma airport in Spain’s Canary Islands reopened Saturday after a 48-hour closure because of volcanic ash, with airlines hoping to resume flights later in the day.

Clouds of thick ash from the volcano had shuttered the airport on Thursday morning for the second time since the September 19 eruption on La Palma, one of the Spanish islands off the northwestern coast of Morocco.

“La Palma airport is back in operation,” Spain’s AENA airport authority tweeted, adding that cleaning work was ongoing and without saying when flights would be resumed. 

Lava engulfed at least four buildings in the Spanish village of Callejon de la Gata on Saturday morning, according to media reports. 

Local Canaries airline Binter said it was “analysing” conditions and hopeful it could resume flights later in the day. 

READ ALSO: On a tiny boat, elderly couple find safe haven from La Palma’s volcano

“We hope everything will be ready to operate in the next few hours,” a spokeswoman told AFP. 

Thick ash had forced the airport to close down on September 25 but although it reopened 24 hours later, flights did not resume for another three days. 

It has been almost three weeks since La Cumbre Vieja began erupting, forcing 6,000 people from their homes as the lava has scorched its way across 1,200 acres of land. 

Earlier on Saturday, part of the volcano’s cone collapsed, sending several new rivers of lava pouring down the slopes towards an industrial zone. 

“It seems part of the cone has collapsed… giving way to two different lava flows,” volcanologist Stavros Meletlidis of Spain’s National Geographic Institute told RNE radio. 

READ ALSO: ‘This is my land’: Canary volcano zone residents flee danger but want to stay on

He said one had opened a new path, while the other was following the path of an earlier flow “but with a higher volume of lava, looking like it will overspill the old flow at some point.”

The new lava flows were approaching an industrial area populated with warehouses and businesses, the radio said. 

According to the latest snapshot from the EU’s Copernicus satellite — taken before the overnight events — the lava had covered almost 1,200 acres (480.5 hectares) of land and destroyed 1,149 properties. 

It has also destroyed huge swathes of banana plantations — the chief cash crop on La Palma. 

“New lava flows have mainly damaged agricultural areas now totalling 120 hectares of crops (300 acres), half of them bananas,” the Canaries volcanic emergencies committee (Pevolca) said on Friday. 

Dozens more earthquakes took place overnight, including one with a magnitude of 4.3, the IGN said on Twitter. 

Local media report at least four more buildings were destroyed by lava flows in the village of Callejon de la Gata on Saturday morning. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAIN TRAVEL

The new compensation rules for train delays and cancellations with Spain’s Renfe

Renfe, Spain’s national rail company, has changed the way in which you can get compensation for delays, as well as the amount of refund you are entitled to.

Published: 14 June 2024 09:38 CEST
The new compensation rules for train delays and cancellations with Spain's Renfe

This changes will apply to Ave, Avlo, Alvia, Euromed and Intercity trains on journeys from July 1st.

This decision comes after a meeting of the company’s Board of Directors who wanted to introduce a similar commitment to punctuality as other competing companies such as Ouigo and Iryo.

But this is not necessarily good news, because now customers will only receive compensation when the delay times are greater and the amounts will be less. 

For example, up until now if an AVE train was delayed 30 minutes you would receive a 100 percent refund, now it’s only if the delay exceeds 90 minutes, a whole hour and a half delay.

What are the new refund amounts and how long do the delays have to be?

Here’s a full breakdown of the new amounts:

Until now, 50 percent was refunded for delays of more than 15 minutes and 100 percent if they were more than 30 minutes.

Now the refunds will be 50 percent for delays of more than 60 minutes and 100 percent for those that exceed 90 minutes.

This means for example that if your train is now delayed up to 45 minutes, you won’t receive any compensation from Renfe at all.

How will the new refund system work?

You will still be able to get your refund in cash or on your card, as always, but there are now other options too including greater refund amounts, depending on what you choose. These are:

  • A refund of 200 percent of the amount depending on the delay time via a new points system managed through the Más Renfe card ‘Renfecitos’. 
  • Compensation as a voucher to buy another ticket. In this case, the refund will be 150 percent of the amount for both delays of 60 minutes and those greater than 90 minutes.

If you choose the refund of the amount on your bank card, you can request it at renfe.com or at the station ticket offices and travel agencies.

If you choose the refund voucher, you can only get it online. In this case you have a maximum of three months from the date of travel to request compensation and a maximum of six months from when you have obtained the discount code to purchase the new ticket.

If you choose to be refunded with Renfe Points, you must also do this online. This option is only available for tickets purchased with a credit/debit card or cash. The points will be credited directly to your account and you have a maximum of three months from the date of travel to request compensation and a maximum of three years to use the points.

To claim delays on Avlo trains, you can do this through the automatic compensation system at www.avlorenfe.com or www.renfe.com. Compensation is paid through the same payment method as you used to purchase your ticket. You will have a maximum period of three months from the date of the trip to request it.

For compensation for delays on integrated tickets, you can apply for compensation at points of sale and customer service at the stations.

In 2023 Renfe paid out €42 million to its customers in compensation for delays. An amount that could have risen to almost €70 million if all affected users had requested compensation.

With this change, Renfe seeks to reduce the amount.

SHOW COMMENTS